Team Anna mounting pressure on Parl, alleges Congress

New Delhi, Dec 11: As Anna Hazare prepares to go on a day-long fast on Sunday on the Lokpal issue, Congress on Saturday accused Team Anna of mounting "unnecessary pressure" on Parliament. "This type of attempt is to bring unnecessary pressure on Parliament and democracy," said Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi.

He also dismissed as "malicious attempt" Hazare's charge that Rahul Gandhi was behind alleged attempts to water down the Lokpal Bill.

Dwivedi, in a letter to Team Anna, noted that it would be difficult for the Congress to express its views before examining the final draft of the Bill. "A debate at this stage outside Parliament may be premature," he said.

His letter was in response to Team Anna's letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi inviting the party to the "maha debate" on various issues related to the Lokpal Bill at Jantar Mantar on Sunday.

Dwivedi, who is also Congress media department chief, told reporters that the party believes that in democracy, Constitution and Parliament are above all and therefore everyone should have faith in the "collective wisdom" of Parliament.

"So, there is no need to put such kind of pressure," he said.

On the attack on Rahul Gandhi, he said it was made with "malicious intentions". This was because even Team Anna had accepted the young leader's suggestion to give Constitutional status to the Lokpal, he said.

Meanwhile, Abhishek Singhvi, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee which went into the Lokpal Bill, also accused Team Anna of "practising an extreme form of intolerance" by condemning those who do not agree with it with "personal attack and vilification."